Poverty Bay Herald PUBLISHED EVERY EVENING GISBORNE, TUESDAY, APRIL. 7, 1931. PARLIAMENT AT WORK

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LV, Issue 17436, 7 April 1931, Page 6

Poverty Bay Herald PUBLISHED EVERY EVENING GISBORNE, TUESDAY, APRIL. 7, 1931. PARLIAMENT AT WORK

When Parliament resumes to-morrow it will settle down to consideration of (lie measures to bo taken for the relief of the districts stricken by the earthquake, lliis being the second of tho two reasons necessitating' the calling of an emergency session. While there is no occasion to anticipate that tho proposed legislation will entail any marked controversy, there are, nevertheless, a number of points which will requite the most careful consideration. Fortunately, members will reassemble after a substantial respite from the ordeal which they were forced to undergo by the obstructional tactics of the Labor Party, but even allowing for this it is doubtful whether tho House will meet in an atmosphere conducive to reasonable debate. Never in the history of Dominion has there

been such a deplorable political spectacle as that staged by the Labor Party since the opening of tho session, with the result that the three weeks which the Prime Minister estimated would be sufficient to complete the work for which members were called together were almost wholly occupied in a protracted wrangle over the proposal to reduce tho salaries of public servants. As it was no appreciable progress was made until steps wentaken by means of the closure to curb the talkativeness of members whose only object was to obstruct essential legislation, and who throughout the long debute offered not a single constructive suggestion. The Labor Party hopes, no doubt, to be regarded by the electors as the heroes of a losing battle, but its members are likely to learn that the people of New Zealand are capable of analysing the position in its true light. The outstanding feature of tho whole business is that the discussion was drawn out for two weeks longer than was necessary at a cost of nearly £IOOO a day, when it was perfectly clear from the outset that nothing whatever could be gained. With all its noise, and bluster, and threats, the Labor Party tailed to move the Prime Minister one inch from the course he had set himself, and, what is more, it must have realised that the Government was taking a step which would have been inevitable even had Labor itself been in. power; and has, in fact, been taken in other countries under Labor rule. The three parties in the House at least had one thing in common; they wore all agreed that the budget must be balanced. The Government submitted its for achieving this object—economy in State services and increased taxation --and despite day after day of fatuous speech and political diatribe the Labor Party never put forward one effective alternative. Its members carried bricks in plenty, but all were used for purposes of assault and not one was left for even attempting to build up something which might have benefited the Dominion. The very absence of any counter-proposals is, perhaps, the strongest argument in support of the Government's programme, and those who may have been impressed by the tactics id' Mr. Holland and his colleagues would do well to ask themselves: What would Labor do in similar circumstances? Two Suggestions were made by members in the House. One, w'hich was neither endorsed nor repudiated by the leader of the party, was that there should be an arbitrary reduction of interest rates; in other words, that the infnmous "Lang plan" should be adopted in New Zealand. It is not conceivable that anything will come of this proposal, but it is of interest if only as an indication of the lengths to which some Labor members would be prepared to ,go if they were entrusted with, the control of the affairs of the country. The other suggestion was the one which always springs so readily from the lips of Socialists—increase taxation. The only specific recommendations put forward were ones which, if adopted, would not yield more than about one-fifth of the sum required to balance the budget, which it was agreed must be done, and were obviously submitted, not ns serious contributions to the question in debate, but as a further means of hindering progress. Mr. Forbes has already hinted that very substantial increases in taxation will be necessary, but Labor members would go even further. They are best answered in the words of the Labor Chancellor of the Exchequer at Home, Mr. Snowden, who in a recent speech stated: "An increase of taxation now. under present conditions, which fell on industry, would be the last straw. Economy is necessary to uphold the present standard of life, and no class will ultimately benefit more by present economy than the wage-earners." These are the words of a Labor man who has profited by the experience and responsibility of oflice, and by them may be judged the value of those spoken by members of the same party in this country whose only objective is to appeal to a certain section of the electorate. If only the Labor politicians of New Zealand were nu'ii of practical administrative experience they would realise perhaps the extent to which heavy taxation and excessive governmental costs have contributed to the present difficulties and been directly responsible for the continued growth of unemployment; they would appreciate better the urgent need for economy; and would recognise, with Mr. Snowden, that economy practised now will eventually, benefit the wage-earners more than any other class.